Saturday morning classes tend to keep almost all students on campus during weekends.
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If you’re liking a “blockier” schedule, Cambridge School of Weston, Episicopal, and George School have schedules that have more intensive classes and 6 or 7 terms.
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NMH also operates on a block semester schedule with 3 courses per semester, so that might help with OPs desire for fewer transitions
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I will check out each of these suggestions. The block schedule preference is interesting. I need the kid to think about what is most important to him.
He can go a few months without a migraine when he gets proper sleep. He will prioritize it. And there is a whole class of highly effective prevention meds that will become available to him when he turns 16 (summer before soph year is the earliest the doc will do. Some docs do 15, but we trust ours and don’t want to switch.) So he doesn’t want to put too much emphasis on that either. Migraine management is just something that is part of his life. It’s getting better with time and reduced frequency/intensity.
I think when I started this thread, I was trying to get a read on the amount of academic stress placed on students not only by the school itself, but also students who speak constantly about how busy/stressed they are. It feeds on itself, wastes time, and makes manageable challenges into larger problems. Adults do this too—I see it all the time.
Tuning that out. This is what I mean by he can stay in his lane to a point. He has solid time management skills, and is a low drama person. He doesn’t want to be distracted by other people’s anxiety. As Kipling wrote, “If you can keep your head while all about you are losing theirs…” He lives by that poem and loves it.
Is there a word or phrase that describes what I am getting at? Because that is the quality we are looking for in a school, but I don’t know how to phrase it.
Any suggestions on this? How do we ask about it without offending the AOs or the kids?
I think it is a culture question more so than a workload question. And you fabulous people have helped me to realize that. Thank you.
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Culture is important and I think it’s so great for you and your son that you recognize that. Many people just focus on the academic climate (rigor! great teachers! seminar style learning!) and forget that the attitudes and climate around you can really impact your educational experience and mental/physical health.
I’m sure your medical team has told you that while the new meds are better/likely more efficacious than some of the older ones, nothing is a panacea for a chronic condition in every single patient. So a medication may help prevent migraines, but may make your kid groggy or tired earlier than usual. Another medication may have fewer side effects, but aren’t quite as effective. Etc.
So I would be evaluating where your son is right now, not pinning a decision based on a medication he hasn’t taken yet/isn’t eligible for right now. I was on what was then a “new” migraine med when I started my first job out of graduate school. It was fantastic, and it was the first real relief I’d had since my early teens. Game changer!
But I needed a full 9 hours of sleep every night- consistently-- or else my performance at work would really suffer (a meeting at 5 pm-- which was very common? If I hadn’t had a full nights sleep the night before I’d be tired by 5, exhausted by 6 and a basket case by 8 when “business dinners” were just getting going.)
So if it were me- find a campus culture which works for him based on where he is now. If it turns out the meds are a game changer, he can look at more intense/grindy places for college, so it’s not like he’s closing that door forever!
Good luck.
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Thank you. Good perspective. I think the CGRP inhibitors are powerful/proven enough to believe that at least one of them will seriously improve his quality of life at some point. But yes, we are focusing on fit as is.
The more I think about it, the more I realize the culture will have to come from within him. He has asked about a breath work and mindfulness coach. We don’t have a lot of money to spare, but it might be a great investment no matter where he goes. Tough kid.
Maybe that’s his pitch to the schools? “I move the boat AND bring the zen.” Or “My focus has plenty of focus,” and hope the AO was a Karate Kid fan as a kid. Humor will get us through this crazy process!
Have him try a few of the Apps (minimal cost) before spending real money… I think they can be a good interim solution without breaking the bank…I know people who swear by the Apps and others who say they didn’t do much for them…
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I just wanted to also let you know about St.Mark’s school. St.Mark’s is pretty much the same as Groton. It has small class sizes and is a really good academically. I am a freshman at St.Marks and it is a relaxed environment and everybody wants their peers to succeed just as much as they want their self to succeed. Regarding Saturday class, its more of a way to get used to boarding school and put in place routines that will help one succeed. Groton is St. Mark’s Rival and they are only 30 mins apart so your relatives will still be close to your kid.
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Thank you. I love suggestions straight from the kids! Best sources, imo.
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One of the nice things about the module system (at least at the Cambridge School of Weston) is that falling behind during one module might only affect that module. So, grades in at most 3 subjects are affected. (One day won’t be insurmountable; I’m referencing longer periods of absences.)
The schools that get a reputation for being a grind generally expect everyone to complete a certain type of high rigor curriculum.
Many of the schools that don’t fall in that category offer pathways for a similarly challenging curriculum, but also have students challenging themselves just as much in different types of curriculums. For example, the late Ian Falconer really appreciated the art courses at CSW: “It was incredible to be able to do life drawing all morning for a month. I was able to absorb what I was learning and develop my strengths, rather than scattering my concentration between six to eight subjects in one day.”
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Yes, 100%, @stalecookies .
Students also seem to pick up energy from the “fresh start” 6 (or 7 at George) times per year.
But to be fair, in many of the more traditional classes, a student with a bad grade in one grading period will still need to master the material to move on to the next section. So while it takes the pressure off for grading purposes, it doesn’t change the underlying learning requirement.
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Groton parent. My daughter is in her 4th form (English system - 10th grade). Last year was an adjustment coming from a public school system but she still ended up on honor roll. They go by point average not letter grade and she performed very well but she worked harder than ever to earn it. That said, my daughter eats up school and would go 7 days a week if she could. She will be taking 3 AP tests in the spring as a 4th form(er) and her knowledge on certain subjects humbles mine with the depth of understanding those subjects. Her education will be much rounder than mine was coming out of high school. That doesn’t trivialize what I learned but her education touches other areas mine never touched.
Yes, they go to school on Saturday but it’s not as bad as you think. They have a half day of classes on Wednesday and a half day on Saturday. There is a requirement for sports or other extracurricular activities that fill the other half of those days. If they’re boarding, it’s not a big deal for them because they can’t just up and decide to wander off the campus anyway.
I also have a son in a top STEM university who didn’t get into Groton and I know now he wouldn’t have made the adjustment like her without a lot of pain. He’s just as bright but relied on his natural intelligence in school and that’s not enough at Groton. His maturity wasn’t there yet and he would have suffered until he adjusted. My wife and I agree he would have been fine had he been in that type of system at a younger age but it’s all in hindsight.
If your child eats up school like my daughter does and they would thrive in a very college-like environment, they will excel because they will let you run as fast as you can there. The school’s reputation is well-deserved, resources are endless, and they remove any obstacles that aren’t academic.
One thing I will tell you is they undersell the time you will spend studying. They say they don’t want you to study more than x hours (forget their calculation but reality is much different) but in order to excel, there will be times when they study late into the night when certain testing periods come around. Groton turned my daughter into a coffee drinker at 14 (not something I like). Lots of tears in the dorm after Latin tests though. 
Groton is not a place if your child isn’t there yet in terms of dealing with lots of stress but if challenges motivate them, you will be shocked by the depth of material they cover. The school is small and teachers make a point to meet your student whether you are their student or not. I also try to be aware of social pressures but my daughter reports bullying is very rare. They have “clicks” but finding friends is usually pretty easy to find because there are about 40 kids in your grade total.
There are many great prep schools though and I’m not one who can judge one from the other. The rankings are a bit contentious anyway and don’t blink because #1 today could be number #10 next week. All I can do is compare it to my experience as a parent of both public and Groton School children.
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I’ve had two kids attend Groton. The older child started in third form (9th grade) and the younger started in the miniscule second form (8th grade).
I echo what the prior poster has said about the academic demands of the school and the need for grit and maturity among the students, and would add that, unlike at many other schools, this is true even in the lower grades. The intensity does increase over time, but it starts high and goes up quickly from there.
That means that the school will feel like a “grind” for many outstanding students – possibly even most.
But calling the school a grind does a great disservice to the place and its community. It’s a very friendly, supportive and I would even go so far as to say “loving” place.
Yes, academics are extremely demanding. Yes, it’s competitive – because even the worst Groton students are somehow reasonably smart and universally hard-working. Yes, everyone is overloaded outside the classroom (they have to be because the school is so small). And yes, the school’s historically Spartan culture pushes students to contribute to the campus community with as much breadth and depth as they can humanly bear (again because the school is small and doesn’t have room for free-riders).
But my kids love it, and I think it’s because everyone else is in more or less the same boat as them. That will feel like a grind to many. But the school’s size creates an intimate and supportive environment that makes the kids feel like they’re all in it together – because they really are.
My kids have always pushed themselves to excel, and they’ve certainly not disappointed anyone at Groton. That said, the school has made them earn their grades.
This is the history and culture of the place. It was supposed to be hard. And for better or worse it still is.
Definitely not a place for a kid looking to coast on natural talent or native intelligence.
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These two replies are enormously helpful!
I think that Groton would have been perfect for my eldest child, now a college graduate. But we took a different path. Interestingly, he would not have been at all offended by the work being characterized as a grind. But you’d better not call him a gunner! Funny how language takes on different meaning with different generations. @RandoParent I apologize for the choice of word, as I do deeply admire the school. It is certainly possible to be simultaneously and uplifting and intensely working place.
For my youngest, I think the community sounds wonderful (he is both warm and serious, and seeks connection) but the collective volume of work and attitude toward it is not a fit. He does need balance and uses the time well look after himself and enjoy meaningful, non-academic pursuits.
I am grateful for the insights. Thanks.
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New Jersey has some really nice schools with Rowing. Blair and Peddie are definitely worth looking at.
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Just adding to the overall Groton info for this year – my daughter is applying and we got an email earlier this week that they have updated their FA policy so that families earning under $150,000 /year will no longer have to pay tuition.
And the day after they announced that, they received a $2million donation from an anonymous donor to support this mission.
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There’s got to be more that $2 million in gifts to support this. That’d be only 2-3 students, and Groton has been public aboutthis forsome time!
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Oh for sure, this was just one that they were advertising. I’m sure most of it is covered by their endowment.
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The school is extremely generous with and proud of its financial aid program.
They’ve been need blind for years, and have been waiving tuition for “lower income” households for even longer (since 2008 according to their website). The recent announcement continues that tradition by upping the tuition free threshold to $150K.
Financial aid families will also typically receive the same proportion of aid applied to their child’s participation in all other Groton programs, such as GS sponsored trips abroad, the summer program, music lessons, etc.
On top of all that, the school continues to freeze its boarding tuition at ~$60K, which is nearly $15K less than peers. In the school’s view, this means that every student’s family benefits from financial aid – which means that every student’s family should involve themselves in bettering the school.
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Please address the OP’s question rather than other aspects of Groton’s culture or admissions/aid practices. Thank you for your understanding.
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